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Meet the team: Roos

By 29-11-2021Blog

Roos (22) is one of the Community Builders at Startblok Riekerhaven. After finishing her bachelor in Social Work she started her premaster Orthopedagogy this year. ‘’I learn how to take tests and recognize which disorder fits the outcome. I can’t give them a diagnosis. For that I have to send them to a psychologist.’’ With her education she can work both in schools and youth services, but she doesn’t know yet which one she’ll choose. ‘’I like to customize my work to the people I work with and that fits better in schools. Maybe I want to do another study after this, but that depends on how this premaster and master will go.’’ Besides her study and work as a Community Builder Roos also works at a day-care. She works with children of different ages: newborns, infants and toddlers. ‘’What I like most is that they learn while playing. If you have an infant of 8 months old that doesn’t know what to do with a rattle, a month later he suddenly knows what to do with it. Toddlers are also nice to work with, because they can explain to you what they want. This age is also more suitable for doing activities.’’ In her spare time Roos likes to paint. She mostly likes abstract art. ‘’The fun thing about abstract art is that it doesn’t have to be clear images of, for example, landscapes. I like the fact that everyone can see something different in the same painting and that the measurements don’t have to be exact.’’ Besides that Roos likes to dance. She started dancing when she was 8 years old. This year I want to start a course in ballroom dancing. ‘’Not so long ago I had a try-out class, we learned the quickstep. I don’t know much about ballroom dancing yet, but I like learning something new.’’ Before Roos started working at Startblok, she had a job in elderly care as a living room staff. She took care of people with dementia by providing them with food and drinks, but also by talking to them or playing games. ‘’The residents told me a lot about what their life was like when they were younger, because that part of their brain is usually still very good. I think people used to be more relaxed. You didn’t have social media and global news coming at you all day. Life was way more simple.’’

Roos started living at Startblok Riekerhaven in April 2021. She heard about our project through a Facebook group. ‘’I was about to start my second study and my mom and I agreed that it was a logical step to also start living on my own now. I looked at the website of Startblok Riekerhaven and I really liked the concept. I immediately hoped that I could mean something to the community with my social background.’’ What she likes most about living at Startblok is the influence that the residents have on their living environment for example through Startblok Actief! or their hallway managers. ‘’In the beginning I was a bit nervous, but I quickly found out that everyone here is very friendly and always open for a cup of coffee or a good conversation.’’